It seems that Canadians feel it’s an “exaggeration” to use the word genocide when referring to the mass murder of Indigenous peoples. As the beneficiaries of resource extraction and land theft, Canadians do not get to say that they aren’t involved in the violent processes by which Canada goes about this exploitation. To be clear, there is no equal ground on stolen land.
Earlier this year, the encroachment of Starbucks onto the stolen lands currently occupied by UVic sparked anger into the hearts of students. Not only were these students upset that an international coffee empire was invading their sacred espresso space, they were angry because they were not consulted at all. As an Indigenous person, I felt very sympathetic towards this issue.
UVic has decided to decline taking a stance of support Unist’ot’en. For me, this is a testament to the limits of reconciliation. For universities and many Canadian institutions, even the best ones are still unwilling to show true support, even symbolically. Reconciliation does not have space for sovereign Indigenous nations. Reconciliation has never been about us, it has always been about Canada.
As the Firekeeper of the Native Students Union, I started writing in this column for the sole purpose of pressuring the University of Victoria to address the injustices against the Wet’suwet’en, and the Unist’ot’en and Gidum’ten in particular. Despite such writings and the lobbying efforts of the UVSS and other student representatives, we have yet to receive a single word in response.
Understanding the weight and consequences of the situation on Wet’suwet’en land requires nothing less than diligent and critical research into Canada’s founding and the convictions of the settlers who justified colonialism. If one wishes to better understand what is happening at Unist’ot’en, it is necessary to examine the mentality of the settler and its invention of the Indian.
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